The invention relates to the processing of fowl and more particularly to an apparatus for opening the body cavity of a fowl by a transverse cut.
In the evisceration of fowl carcasses it is common practice to first cut out the vent by a circular cut in the abdominal skin and then to provide further access to the body cavity by cutting the abdominal skin. Usually, the cavity is thus opened by a longitudinal cut extending from the cut-out vent opening towards the breast-bone of the fowl. However, in some countries the fowl carcasses are preferably opened by a transverse cut which thus leaves a small strip of skin between the vent opening and the transverse cut. When the fowls are packed, the legs are inserted beneath this remaining strip of skin.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,087 to Vertegaal discloses an apparatus for opening the body cavity of a fowl by such a transverse cut in which the fowl is moved through the apparatus hanging by the ankle joints from a hook of an overhead conveyor in the usual manner, the vent of the fowl having been previously cut out. In this known apparatus the cutting means for making the transverse cut comprises a rotating circular knife which makes a straight transverse cut in the abdominal skin of each passing fowl at a predetermined distance from the tail of the fowl. This known arrangement has the disadvantage that when making the cut it is difficult to prevent with certainty that the entrails lying underneath the skin are damaged by the rotating knife, which could cause contamination of the fowl carcass. This is caused by the fact that the skin is relatively loose and flabby making it necessary to press the knife firmly against the skin in order to stretch the latter and allow a cut to be made therein. If the cut is to be made not between the vent opening and the tail of the bird but between this opening and the breast-bone, the knife must be pressed so firmly to the skin that damage to the entrails is generally unavoidable. Another disadvantage of the known apparatus is that the cut is made at a fixed distance from the tail whereby for a small fowl the cut will be too close to the breast-bone and for a large fowl too close to the vent opening.